


World Cup, Bunker Style

by Kateera



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Bonding over Sports, F/M, FIFA World Cup 2018, Rufus x Jiya, The start of Garcy, Trapped in the Bunker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 04:31:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15283701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kateera/pseuds/Kateera
Summary: Lucy and Garcia might be the only ones in the bunker cheering for Croatia, but it's the most fun she's had in a long time.





	World Cup, Bunker Style

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to fulfill a ficlet request and I'm sorry it got as long as it did. I had a lot of feelings about Garcy and the Croatian football team. I am not the most knowledgeable sports fan, so please let me know if something looks weird. Enjoy!
> 
> Check me out on [tumblr](http://kateera.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/kateera_) to say hi!

Grabbing the bag of chips she’d snuck from the kitchen, Lucy followed the sounds of shouting out to the couch where Rufus, Jiya, Connor, and Flynn were gathered around their little television. Rufus had Jiya and Connor on the couch while Flynn sat off to the side on one of their kitchen chairs.

Connor was bouncing in his seat, gesturing at the screen while Rufus patted his back and tried to take his beer before he spilled it. Lucy walked towards the couch and tried to understand why everyone was so worked up.

“They don’t have the stamina to keep this up,” Connor said as he flopped back on the couch. “I can’t believe they’ve even lasted this long.”

“That’s the spirit,” Jiya said, her own beer half empty and her eyes glued to the screen.

The television showed a soccer match, apparently in halftime because the network kept running slow-motion rerun videos. She didn’t recognize the uniforms, but that didn’t bother her. Lucy’s personality left her more inclined to hide out with her academic crowd than go to a sports game.

“Why exactly are you watching soccer?” She asked, sitting on the floor beside Flynn’s chair and setting her chip bag on her lap.

Everyone fell silent and then Connor scoffed and gestured to the screen. “Lucy, it’s the final game of the World Cup, show some respect.”

Flynn leaned down and grabbed her bag of chips, earning him a glare. “It’s football, not soccer.”

She tried to grab her bag back, but Flynn held it above her head and she crossed her arms in annoyed defeat. “I wasn’t aware anyone in this group watched sports other than Wyatt.”

“Wyatt watches scaredy cat rugby,” Connor said with a sniff, earning him a punch from Jiya.

Rufus laughed and Jiya rolled her eyes. “Football to America is different, not bad.”

“France hasn’t scored a goal yet and that means Connor is getting a little nasty.” Jiya waved at the box of beer bottles on the floor. “You want one?”

“You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to.” Flynn kept his voice quiet, but Lucy heard him over the television and flashed him a small smile.

Lucy looked around the group and she found herself unwilling to hide away in her room again. Wyatt was off somewhere and she’d been hiding so much, she realized that she missed her friends.

Nodding her head, Lucy held out her hands. “Beer please.” As Jiya handed her the bottle, she pointed at the screen. “So, we’re cheering for France then?”

An awkward kind of quiet settled over the room and Lucy could clearly make out the name Modrić and the word Croatia.

“Wait, Croatia’s playing?” She turned back to the screen and looked at the score of one to zero. “That’s awesome!”

Flynn laughed and gave her a pat on the shoulder, his voice carrying a note of mocking as he spoke. “That’s not the consensus with this group.”

“England should have won that last game, alright?” Connor looked like he was ready to fight and Rufus looked ready to hold him back.

“England got one free kick in and then sat back on defense,” Flynn answered, sitting with his arms crossed and his feet tapping. “The best team won. Deal with it.”

Connor blustered and twisted in his seat. “Well, may the best team, as in France, will win now!”

Jiya burst out laughing at Connor’s outrage and Rufus shushed her with a look of warning. Whipping his head around, Connor glared at Jiya and she gulped down her amusement.

Using his knee for leverage, Lucy stood up and handed her beer to Flynn who took it with a confused look. She rushed to the kitchen, grabbing another bag of chips and debating for a moment before grabbing her cookie stash from behind the cereal. She brought everything back to the sectioned off space that served as their living room and dropped the food on the small table. Another chair had been brought over, situated next to Jiya’s side of the couch. Lucy grabbed the chair and dragged it over to Flynn, sitting down next to him and grabbing her drink back with a grin. His answering smile sent butterflies spiraling in her stomach and she took a sip of beer before she said something embarrassing.

“Do you know much about football, Lucy?” Connor asked, his eyes still on the screen where some commentator was describing a missed shot made by the French team.

“My sister was more into basketball,” Lucy said as she watched the screen. “I get the concept though, so I’m good.”

“She means, don’t try to explain it to her,” Rufus informed Connor, shooting Lucy a strange look.

She didn’t care that her sitting next to Flynn confused him. For this game, for this hour or whatever that they would be watching men kick a ball around, she wanted to be the supportive one for a change.

The game started again and Lucy’s plan was soon discovered as she cheered on Croatia. Rufus stared and Jiya hid a smile behind her hand as Lucy yelled at the screen and Connor looked betrayed. Flynn grinned and sat forward in his chair, uncrossing his arms and relaxing.

“Come on, that’s it!” Lucy threw her hands up, almost spilling her beer, as a Croatian player managed to kick the ball back up the field.

“You’re really getting into this?” Flynn asked, his eyes never leaving the television.

Lucy took a drink and hid a smirk behind the glass. “Well, they’re not awful.”

“It’s a travesty,” Connor muttered, but everyone ignored his comments.

When France managed to score a goal and equalize the game, Connor shouted and jumped off the couch. Rufus and Jiya clapped, but their enthusiasm didn’t reach the same levels as before and Connor sat back down with a huff.

Lucy discovered that cheering with Flynn was fun and his enthusiasm brought out a side of him she’d never seen before.

 _A cute side,_ she thought, smiling at the idea of calling Garcia Flynn, the tall, terrifying, time-traveling killer, cute.

He grabbed onto her arm when a player went down, clutching at her sleeve until the man stood back up and kept playing.

Looking down at his hand around her bicep, he flinched and released her. “Sorry, that was Perišić and that would have been very bad if he went down.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Lucy told him with a smile. “My sister used to shake me when one of her team's players got hurt.”

“Shake you?”

“Yeah, like this.” Lucy grabbed his arm and tried to move him back and forth.

Flynn rocked a bit in his chair and raised his eyebrows. “I see.”

Lucy huffed and turned back to the game. “Well, you’re a bit bigger than me, okay.”

“If you feel the need to shake someone, I’ll try to make it look effective.” Flynn teased.

She remembered that voice, the same one he used while she was trying to leave his bedroom after a night of drinking and talking, and it caused a swirl of warmth in her chest. Focusing back on the game, Lucy took a breath to harness her emotions. It was too easy to get caught up in his charms, even while other people were around.

It was the end of the second half with both teams struggling to get the ball, to end the game before they needed extra time. It was quiet in the bunker, everyone’s eyes on the television. Croatia moved the ball down, back and forth while France tried to keep up. Like lightning, the ball hit the net past the France goalie with a swoosh. Lucy and Flynn jumped to their feet, Lucy shouting and Flynn yelling “GOAL”. Before she could stop him, Flynn swooped her up in a hug and spun her around.

“Goal, they got this!”

She laughed and gave him a pat on the back and he set her down, a blush covering his face as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Sorry, again.”

Lucy shook her head and turned them both back to the screen as the game ended and the crowd went wild.

“They did it,” Flynn said in wonder and Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Congratulations,” she said, basking in the glow radiating off of him.

A cough from the couch brought her attention back and she released Flynn with a jump. Lucy turned around to see Rufus patting Connor on the shoulder and Jiya looking at her with a smirk.

Jiya stood up and walked over to Flynn, giving him a light punch on the arm. “Congrats, man. This is a pretty big deal, right?”

Flynn nodded, beaming at her. “First time to a final, and we win!”

Jiya looked at Lucy, smirked, and patted Lucy’s arm. “Congrats to you, as well.”

“Well, I was just here for support,” Lucy said, shrugging and ducking her head.

“Yeah, I saw.” Jiya walked away without another word and Lucy burned holes in the back of her head with a glare.

She looked up at Flynn and caught him staring at her with a soft smile, something like adoration lurking behind his eyes.

“How long are you going to hold this over Connor’s head?” Lucy asked.

His smile widened and he winked at her. “Oh, maybe just a year or so.”

“Uh, huh.” She shook her head and picked up her empty bottles.

“I’m still right here, you know,” Connor said from the couch.

Flynn looked over at him. “Don’t be a sore loser. They weren’t even your team.”

“They were my only chance at keeping you from being insufferable for the next month,” Connor said, following his claim with a long sigh.

Lucy watched Flynn walk behind the couch and pat Connor on the shoulder. “Come now, don’t be ridiculous.” He looked at Lucy with a grin. “It’s going to be longer than a month.”

The Connor’s groan was covered by Flynn’s laughter and Lucy had to chuckle at the sound. She felt lighter than she had in weeks, the game giving her a chance to be loud and intrusive while focusing on something other than Wyatt and his mess. She didn’t want to be a part of that mess anymore and as she watched Flynn walk away, the part of her that she’d tucked away because at the time it was too scary to think about, crept back into the front of her mind. She liked Flynn.

_You more than like him._   
_Shut up._

She’d tried to ignore it, tried to focus on Wyatt and his ‘good guy’ vibe she’d sensed at the beginning of their time travel adventures, but that need wasn’t there anymore. She wanted something new and she wanted to see where this attraction to Flynn might take her.

Looking at Rufus and Jiya, the pair currently flipping through channels now that the game was over, Lucy gave them a small wave as she backed away. “See you all later.”

Rufus didn’t even look up, but Jiya’s eyes met hers with a nod and smile. Lucy took off after Flynn with a spark of hope and the idea of a post-game celebration.


End file.
